The 1992 Australian Touring Car Championship was an Australian motor racing competition for Group 3A Touring Cars,[1] commonly known as Group A cars. It was sanctioned by the Confederation of Australian Motor Sport as an Australian National Title.[2] The championship began on 23 February at Amaroo Park Raceway and ended on 21 June at Oran Park Raceway after nine rounds. It was the 33rd running of the Australian Touring Car Championship.[3]
Mark Skaife, driving a Nissan Skyline GT-R for Gibson Motorsport, won his first Australian Touring Car Championship. His teammate and defending series champion Jim Richards finished second, with BMW M3 driver Tony Longhurst in third place.
Although Mark Skaife was the overall winner of the opening round at Amaroo Park, Peter Brock's win in Heat 1 of the round in his Mobil 1 Racing Holden VN Commodore SS Group A was the first race win by a Holden in the ATCC since Brock had won Round 6 of the 1986 ATCC at Surfers Paradise.
In an effort to reduce costs and to even out the cars, CAMS imposed a number of changes for 1992. Notably, the Holden Commodores and Ford Sierra RS500's were restricted to a 7,500 rev limit and the BMW M3's had an extra 50 kg added to their minimum weight limit.
However the biggest change came to the Nissan GT-R's. Before the start of the season the cars were given an extra 40 kg, bringing them up to a total of 1400 kg. CAMS also directed that the cars were to run Formula One style pop-off valves on the twin turbos to restrict their power, bringing them down from 1991's 6400NaN0 to around 4500NaN0. Gibson Motorsport continually protested against the imposed penalties on the car (after winning the ATCC the cars were given an extra 100 kg to bring them 1500), and even took CAMS to court (unsuccessfully) in a bid to be able to run the GT-R as they were in 1991 claiming that they were no longer competitive. However most saw this as a false claim since the team won both the ATCC and the Tooheys 1000.
The following teams and drivers competed in the championship:
| Team | Manufacturer | Car model | No | Driver |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Winfield Team Nissan | Nissan | Skyline R32 GT-R | 1 |  Jim Richards |
| 2 |  Mark Skaife | |||
| Lansvale Racing Team | Holden | VN Commodore SS Group A SV | 3 | |
| GIO Racing | Nissan | Skyline R32 GT-R | 4 | Mark Gibbs |
| Holden | VN Commodore SS Group A SV | 21 | Mark Gibbs Rohan Onslow | |
| Mobil 1 Racing | Holden | VN Commodore SS Group A SV | 05 | Peter Brock |
| 7 | Neil Crompton | |||
| Alf Grant | Nissan | Skyline HR31 GTS-R | 6 | Tim Grant |
| Caltex CXT Racing | Ford | Sierra RS500 | 8 | Colin Bond |
| Perkins Engineering | Holden | VL Commodore SS Group A SV | 11 | Larry Perkins |
| Ampol Max 3 Racing | Holden | VL Commodore SS Group A SV | 12 | Bob Jones |
| Warren Jonsson | Holden | VL Commodore SS Group A SV | 14 | Warren Jonsson |
| Shell Ultra-Hi Racing | Ford | Sierra RS500 | 17 | Dick Johnson |
| 18 | John Bowe | |||
| Benson & Hedges Racing | BMW | M3 Evolution II | 20 | Alan Jones |
| 23 | Paul Morris | |||
| 25 | Tony Longhurst | |||
| Wayne Douglass | Holden | VL Commodore SS Group A SV | 22 | John English |
| Terry Finnigan | Holden | VN Commodore SS Group A SV | 27 | Terry Finnigan |
| Playscape Racing | Ford | Sierra RS500 | 28 | Kevin Waldock |
| Peter Jackson Racing | Ford | Sierra RS500 | 30 | Glenn Seton |
| 35 | Wayne Park David Parsons | |||
| Phil Johnson | Holden | VL Commodore SS Group A SV | 31 | Phil Johnson |
| Pro-Duct Racing | Holden | VN Commodore SS Group A SV | 33 | Bob Pearson |
| Ron Masing | Mitsubishi | Starion | 36 | Ron Masing |
| Brian Callaghan | Holden | VL Commodore SS Group A SV | 37 | Brian Callaghan Jr. |
| Challenge Motorsport | Holden | VL Commodore SS Group A SV | 39 | Chris Smerdon |
| John Leeson | Holden | VL Commodore SS Group A SV | 40 | John Leeson |
| Daily Planet Racing | Holden | VL Commodore SS Group A SV | 41 | Andrew Harris |
| Garry Willmington Performance | Toyota | Supra Turbo | 41 | Garry Willmington |
| Stuart McColl | Holden | VL Commodore SS Group A SV | 44 | Stuart McColl |
| Ian Love | Holden | VL Commodore SS Group A SV | 45 | Ian Love |
| Bryan Sala | Ford | Sierra RS500 | 50 | Bryan Sala |
| Mike Steele | Ford | Sierra RS500 | 55 | Mike Steele |
| Holden Racing Team | Holden | VN Commodore SS Group A SV | 61 | Tomas Mezera |
| Reda Awadullah | Holden | VL Commodore SS Group A SV | 68 |  Reda Awadullah |
| Adrian Brooke | Toyota | Corolla SX | 72 | Brad Stratton |
| Frank Binding | Toyota | Corolla SX | 74 | Frank Binding |
| Barbagallo Motorsport | Holden | VN Commodore SS Group A SV | 77 | Alf Barbagallo |
| John Holmes | Toyota | Corolla SX | 78 | John Holmes |
| Scotty Taylor Racing | Mitsubishi | Starion | 86 | Stephen Bell |
| Malcolm Rea | Toyota | Sprinter | 88 | Malcolm Rea |
The championship was contested over a nine rounds series in six different states with two heats per round.[4]
| Rd. | Circuit | Location / state | Date | Winner | Car | Team | Report | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Amaroo Park Raceway | Sydney, New South Wales | 21 - 23 Feb | Mark Skaife | Nissan Skyline R32 GT-R | Winfield Team Nissan | ||
| 2 | Sandown International Raceway | Melbourne, Victoria | 6 - 8 Mar | John Bowe | Ford Sierra RS500 | Shell Ultra-Hi Racing | ||
| 3 | Symmons Plains Raceway | Launceston, Tasmania | 13 - 15 Mar | Glenn Seton | Ford Sierra RS500 | Peter Jackson Racing | ||
| 4 | Winton Motor Raceway | Benalla, Victoria | 3 - 5 Apr | Mark Skaife | Nissan Skyline R32 GT-R | Winfield Team Nissan | ||
| 5 | Lakeside International Raceway | Brisbane, Queensland | 1–3 May | Tony Longhurst | BMW M3 Evolution | Benson & Hedges Racing | ||
| 6 | Eastern Creek Raceway | Sydney, New South Wales | 22–24 May | John Bowe | Ford Sierra RS500 | Shell Ultra-Hi Racing | ||
| 7 | Mallala Motor Sport Park | Mallala, South Australia | 29–31 May | Mark Skaife | Nissan Skyline R32 GT-R | Winfield Team Nissan | ||
| 8 | Wanneroo Raceway | Perth, Western Australia | 5 - 7 Jun | John Bowe | Ford Sierra RS500 | Shell Ultra-Hi Racing | ||
| 9 | Oran Park Raceway | Sydney, New South Wales | 19 - 21 Jun | Mark Skaife | Nissan Skyline R32 GT-R | Winfield Team Nissan |
Points were awarded on a 30-27-24-21-19-17-15-14-13-12-11-10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2 basis to the top twenty drivers at each round. Round positions were determined by applying the same points structure to each of the two heats and ranking the drivers by the total. In the event of two or more drivers having the same total, the round placing was determined by the finishing order in the second heat.[5]
|
1992 Australian Touring Car season